Asian equity indices are exhibiting mixed trade in early deals on Monday, despite a positive lead from Wall Street. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market declined on an upbeat core machine orders data and a steady yen. On the economic front, core machine orders in Japan soared a seasonally adjusted 19.1 percent on month in March that shattered forecasts for a 6.0 percent increase following the upwardly revised 4.6 percent contraction in February. Chinese Shanghai Composite dropped to the lowest level in three weeks, led by financial companies and liquor makers, due to concerns of weakness in the property market and curbs on interbank borrowing that will worsen the economic slowdown. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong and Shanghai are notably lower. South Korea is down with modest losses, while Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are trading higher.
Shanghai Composite declined by 22.10 points or 1.09% to 2,004.41, Hang Seng slipped 85.64 points or 0.38% to 22,627.27, Nikkei 225 dropped 17.48 points or 0.12% to 14,079.11 and Seoul Composite was down by 1.41 points or 0.07% to 2,012.03.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite rose 10.60 points or 0.21% to 5,042.17, KLSE Composite gained by 4.73 points or 0.25% to 1,888.07, Straits Times strengthened by 2.07 points or 0.06% to 3,264.66 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 10.58 points or 0.12% to 8,899.03.